S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Possibly Stealing Art From Other Games

[Schwarz]

S.T.A.L.K.E.R., from developer GSC-Game World and publisher THQ, has garnered much attention before it was released. It is no surprise after its release it's still deep in controversy. However, the controversy now isn't about if the game will or will not be released, but what it used to be released.

The good folks over at MapCore have posted the first evidence of such copyright intrusions. As you can see from the photos to the right and over at Shacknews, the evidence is pretty damning. A quick Google search will show many other instances being found.

http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/4440_large_hl2stalker.jpg

http://www.dailytech.com/STALKER+Possibly+Stealing+Art+From+Other+Games/article6901.htm

[XJnine]

Naughty, naughty....

I bet if this is proven to be true you can expect a bit more than just a slap on the wirst. Valve and id have the resources to pursue this and I think they will. You can't let people steal your hard work and then profit off of it in the retail channel. There's not much they can do about underground piracy but over the counter stuff is pretty easy to crack down on.

[raidersforever01]

I just heard somewhere that there not stealing but they are actually buying textures. I suck at summarizing and at making sence so take a look here.
http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38945

[Schwarz]

Good thing I got the chance to play this great game though.
I really love STALKER.
It just sucks though.
BTW if you really play STALKER a lot you will think you are playing FALLOUT in 3D.
Maybe its why I love that game so much.
But I still think they should have made the game themselves...

[EDIT]
Well i'm reasured...thanks raiders for pointing that out.
I really do enjoy stalker and thought it really sucked for the texture thing.

[XJnine]

I don't know if I'd trust the inq.

Here's a quote from id's Todd Hollendshead:
I've seen a post on a web forum that claims DOOM3 assets are used in another game, but we've been working hard on Enemy Territory: Quake Wars as well as our own internal project and have not had the time to fully investigate or otherwise verify that the claim is true. Only from what I've seen on the Web, it's concerning. However, it may turn out to be nothing. Nevertheless, it would be improper to make any decision about a course of action until we find out whether the claim is true, and what assets from DOOM3, if any, have potentially been used.

I'm sure that if they had sold them some textures he would have mentioned it.

[tomato]

Wow, now this could have some huge consequences for GSC-Game World and publisher THQ... They'd better get all of their ducks in a row and issue some sort of press release very soon and set the story straight...

[Kougar]

Yeah, I saw that when DT first ran it... I'm waiting for the involved companies to actually do something to confirm/deny this. I would be a little skeptical that any game developer would think they could borrow other game textures as they please and none of the gamers would notice the string of similarities....

[Nocutius]

Hmm, it would be really hard to believe that developers of one of the most anticipated games, for years in a row, would steal stuff from other developers. I really hope everything turns out to be OK. Stalker is an awesome game and I'd hate to see its reputation as a franchise ruined like this.
If it's true its pretty naive hoping nobody will notice anything.

[PP Mguire]

Hmm, it would be really hard to believe that developers of one of the most anticipated games, for years in a row, would steal stuff from other developers.TO hurry up and get it out, yea they would.

[raidersforever01]

The Inquirers problem that i see is that they don't seem to take the time to do fact checking. I don't believe everything that comes out of the inquirer but STALKER using bought textures from Marlin Studios doesn't seem far fetched at all for that to be the case.

[PP Mguire]

Also, industries steal things from rival companies all the time, just mostly its never cought. Sorta like the music business. Guys steal other guys stuff all the time and just do it a little differently but cause its a little different they cant be touched.

[Tyron]

TO hurry up and get it out, yea they would.

That's what I was thinking as well. There were so many delays in the release of this game they could have resorted to this kind of thing to get it out the door.

We'll have to wait and see how it plays out to know for sure what happened. I would think that ID would be making more noise if they had actually had their stuff stolen.

[PP Mguire]

We'll have to wait and see how it plays out to know for sure what happened. I would think that ID would be making more noise if they had actually had their stuff stolen.Exactly. They would be in court already id be willing to guess.